What a story.  What a read.  What lessons of life.  What a writer.  What kind of mind puts forth such beauty, in such great detail, so perfectly worded?

One of “The Greats”, that’s who.  Charles Dickens.  Heralded as a literary genius.

This book is incredibly touching and pulls at your heartstrings, throughout…

It tells the story of a young, orphaned boy, Pip, who grows up in poverty raised by his wretch of a sister and wise, simple, loving brother-in-law.  The boy is given a glimpse of high society when he is summoned by a rich, heartless woman to use as a pawn in her game of raising her adopted daughter, Estella, to be heartless towards boys.  He falls in love with her and becomes humiliated and ashamed of his position, his upbringing and his guardians. He is given the opportunity to live out “his great expectations” by an unknown benefactor of riches.  As he starts to lead this life of luxury, he virtually disowns his loyal brother-in-law, Joe.  And makes no progress winning over the cold heart of Estella, who marries another for money. Because of the good in his heart, Pip, sets up his best friend to be financially secure for the rest of his life and reunites with Joe, begging forgiveness.  A decade and a half later, his broken heart is finally mended with the return of Estella, who’s softened with love for Pip.

It reads like a classic.  It is extremely rich in detail and sesquipedalian (meaning: big word.  Like that?!) vocabulary.  It is so very worth your time and effort and you will want to be a better person after you’ve finished reading it.